I have been writing a piece on compassion for several weeks
now and I have had a major breakthrough on a fallacy in the development of this piece that I didn’t know how to address. I found myself effortlessly
typing through this fallacy and desired to reference another one of my
writings regarding our words and thoughts and their intentions. I quickly looked
through the documents saved on my desktop and lo and behold, I have not written
this piece! I have spoken these ideas and referenced the quote mentioned below, but I have not put ink to paper or finger to keypad.
It was in 2005 around the time of Pope John Paul II’s death
that I remember really thinking intensely about prayer and about how so
many people in the world were actively in prayer together. I thought that
although it was a beautiful thing that so many people were gathered in prayer
together at this particular time, it would be nice if it happened more frequently. It was somewhere around that time that a St. Francis of
Assisi quote found its way into my favorite quote book.
"Pray without ceasing. If necessary,
use
words."
How does one do this? Oh, how I love this catholic (in the
lower-case sense of the word) quote! I interpret this to mean that all of our
actions, interactions, thoughts, deeds, and words are all
forms of prayer. Practicing mindfulness; being aware of the energy we put forth
into the world and that we are all one and have the ability to impact others in
both a positive and negative way. We are always praying whether we realize it or not. The true power comes from applying discernment, awareness and love to our daily life. No mala beads, rosaries or kneeling required.
